


Colony

by Aerileah



Series: The Bracken Trails [4]
Category: Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Genre: Fern Survived, Gen, Overprotective Big Brother, Raksura AU, VERY overprotective little sister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27087253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerileah/pseuds/Aerileah
Summary: It wasn’t much later, when they were flying over a temperate jungle, that she realized they were almost to their destination. She felt a little dizzy. A slow-moving river cut through the jungle, and perched atop the water was a huge structure, a gray step-stone pyramid surrounded with pillars and stone platforms cultivated into a complex terraced garden structure. Figures were walking on the terraces and platforms.There were Raksura here, and they were alive.
Series: The Bracken Trails [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913620
Comments: 13
Kudos: 32





	1. The Welcome

**Author's Note:**

> Posting on Sundays for the next little while. Thank you everyone for the comments and kudos! <3

The hours of the night and following day blurred together for Fern in the same way that watching clouds drift across the sky made time seem simultaneously too slow and too fast. Stone held them around each around the waist, Fern in one hand and Moon in the other, and held them tucked up in his chest, so they didn’t even have to hook claws into his scales to hang on. Moon stayed in his winged form for as long as he could manage. Fern was able to stay in her Arbora form longer, and she wished she could wrap her arms and tail around him to keep him warm in the chill night air. 

She slept in small bursts, shifting to her scaled form as the chill night air became too much to handle. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the miserable days being carried through the mountains, but it wasn’t pleasant either. When the sun was past its apex, Fern saw Moon shift from groundling to Aeriat and immediately to groundling again. She knew that meant he was struggling to stay conscious. She called up to Stone, “We need to take a rest. He’s barely holding on.” Stone angled his head down to her, and she realized he was hard to focus on even this close, like there was a strange blurring around his features. He looked at her with his clouded eye, and she realized that he could see out of it, even if only a little. She felt him put on a burst of speed, and growled deep in her chest. 

It wasn’t much later, when they were flying over a temperate jungle, that she realized they were almost to their destination. She saw two warriors and gasped. A metallic red winged form and a chartreuse winged form flying far below them, almost perpendicular to Stone’s trajectory. 

She felt a little dizzy. There were Raksura here, and they were alive. Then she saw the colony itself. A slow-moving river cut through the jungle, and perched atop the water was a huge structure, a gray step-stone pyramid surrounded with pillars and stone platforms cultivated into a complex terraced garden structure. 

Fern lost her view of the colony as Stone dipped toward a low bluff a distance from the pyramid. He landed and set Fern on her feet, then gently lowered Moon’s limp body into her waiting arms. She stabilized Moon’s neck and upper body on the way down, settling his head into her lap as Stone shifted to his groundling form. The sparse grass on the bluff poked her legs through her smock. Stone rolled his shoulders and pulled an empty water skin from his pack. 

“Moon,” Fern said, brushing Moon’s tangled hair from his face. 

Stone crouched next to them. “We’re here,” he said, and looked out across the bluff toward the colony. Moon groaned, lifting a hand up toward his face. Stone’s gaze snapped back to Moon. “Uh?” Stone patted Moon’s chest. “Still with me?” 

Moon’s eyes opened slowly. “I think…” He winced. “Maybe.” 

“I’ll get some water,” Stone said, and moved away. 

“Did he say we were--” Squinting, Moon sat up and pushed away from Fern. His eyes followed the line of the river and stopped at the pyramid. “There.” 

Fern turned to look back at the pyramid. Figures were walking on the terraces and platforms around the structure, scaled and softskinned. There were all colors of scales, from jewel tones of blue and green to metallic orange and red and yellow, to dark and warm browns. Then a groundling shifted and flew up to the top of the structure. There were so many people, so many more than at the Cordans’ camp. And they were like her and like Moon. 

She thought of all the settlements they’d left over the years. The settlements they’d been driven from or forced to leave. The “You’re a good worker, but the draft beasts are afraid of you,” the “We know you’re hiding something,” the "Get out of here and never come back," and she knew that if they didn’t fit in here…  _ If we don’t fit in here, the problem isn’t them; it’s us.  _

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Stone hand Moon the full waterskin. “Did you build this place?” Moon asked in awe. 

She turned to watch Stone, who eyed the structure as though he found it unsatisfactory. “No. Found it, a long time ago.” 

Fern thought of Stone talking about wanting to leave this place, how he said they’d had bad luck.

“Is it a good place to live?” Moon asked. 

Stone shrugged. “It’s all right.” He nudged Moon’s arm. “Drink that.” 

Moon twitched, finally noticing the waterskin in his hand. He coughed and sputtered on his first pull, then wiped his mouth and tried again. He passed the waterskin to Fern, who took a careful sip, watching the disapproval deepen on Stone’s face. 

“What’s wrong?” Fern asked. 

Stone rubbed his face wearily. “Fell. Somewhere inside.” 

The waterskin dropped from her limp fingers. She looked at the figures on the platforms around the building, people working in the gardens, talking and waving to one another. “Are you sure?” she asked. Stone shot her a withering look. 

“Then why does everyone look so normal?” Moon asked. 

“I don’t know.” Stone picked up the waterskin and capped it. “The possibilities aren’t encouraging.” He stuffed the waterskin in his pack and stood. “Come on.” 

Before either of them could react, Stone shifted and picked them both up. Then they were in the air, flying to the pyramid. Fern twisted to watch and saw Stone was angling for a large open doorway in the mid-level of the pyramid. They passed into shadow, into a tall space plenty big enough for Stone’s shifted form. He set them both down, and Fern reached out to steady Moon as he stumbled. Colored paving stones in the floor and walls made the space feel a bit brighter, and leafy vines grew along the ceiling and walls, incorporated with the stonework and some blocky carved designs. People hurried in from some wide doorways, though some were on their way out. 

The scents were disorienting. New people, new Raksura, greenery and floral scents, and under it all was a faint, but present, stench of Fell. Fern shivered, and felt Moon tense next to her. He could smell it too. Then Fern realized the people in the room were staring at him, and she felt Moon ready himself to grab her and lunge out the nearest door. She caught his wrist and tapped twice with her index finger. He looked at her, his eyes wide. 

A stocky man stepped forward, with dark-tinted skin and red hair. “Stone,” he said, sounding both wary and relieved. “We thought it would take you longer to get back.” His eyes fluttered to Fern and Moon, then back to Stone. “They from the Star Aster court?”

Silence stretched through the room. Stone looked around. “No. None of them would agree to come. I found them on the way.” Stone leveled his gaze at the spokesman. “Why are Fell here?” 

An uneasy ripple traveled through the crowd.  _ Afraid the scary line-grandfather is going to scold you all for being stupid? _ Fern thought acidly.

A woman stepped forward. “Pearl let them in. They were here two days and left this morning.” 

Stone cocked his head. The air seemed to grow colder, as if his anger drove the warmth from the room. A number of people moved in place uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at Stone. “Did they happen to mention they destroyed the Sky Copper Court no more than two days ago? Did they happen to mention where they took the stolen royal fledglings?”

Someone gasped, and everyone went perfectly still.

“They asked Pearl for a treaty,” the woman said softly. 

Fern swallowed a growl, and felt Moon hold his breath. 

“You stay down here,” Stone said, and strode away. Moon twitched, as though aborting his immediate instinct to follow Stone. The crowd hastily parted for Stone, and he was out of sight in moments. Fern looked up at Moon and released his wrist. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed gustily. His eyes were in constant motion, noting and assessing every person in the room as they slowly dispersed. 

“Let’s find a place to sit down,” Fern suggested quietly, and looked for anything resembling a bench or cushion. 

“I want a bath and food,” Moon said. “I hear water over there, let’s go check it out.” 

They walked into the next room, which was really a wide corridor with a shallow pool on the side, fed by water flowing down a series of stair-like blocks. The walls were ornamented with carvings, squared off and depicting groundlings with the wrong proportions to be Raksura. None of it looked like the swirling and graceful shapes on Stone’s tea service and bracelet. The flowing water looked more ornamental than for bathing or drinking, and Fern was reluctant to sully it. The end of the corridor opened to the jungle, and they walked over to look out and down. The river was quite shallow, and she could see all the way to the bottom. Stone was right. It wasn’t an ideal place to fish. 

They drifted back to an interior doorway, checking each room before they entered. At one point children ran across their path, giggling and playing, shifting apparently at random. There were so many Arbora, Fern realized. Most everyone was stocky and more heavily built than Moon, similar in body type to her. Though all were taller than her, they were shorter than Moon. She thought at this point she’d seen no more than maybe five tall and lithe statured people. Moon had stopped to watch the children, his gaze distant. 

“What do you think you’re doing here?”

She started, and looked around Moon to see two young men approaching. She decided their stockiness marked them as Arbora. Long blades hung from belts at their waists, and they looked hostile and cocky. This wasn’t the first aggressive greeting she and Moon had experienced when entering a new settlement. Moon tensed, then relaxed into a ready stance. He turned to face the men directly, deliberately blocking Fern from view.

One man said to the other, “He’s the feral solitary Stone brought.”

Fern stepped out from behind Moon, into the sight line of the two men. They twitched in surprise. “My brother isn’t the feral one,” she said, and bared her teeth in a parody of a smile. “I am.” 

She realized after she’d spoken that Raksuran didn’t have a word for “brother” or “sister,” and she and Moon had been using the Hassi words for turns now.  _ What’s the Raksuran word? Clutchmate? Well, that’s just not accurate. _

The men glanced at one another, and Fern pulled her attention back to the confrontation. Their eyes flicked uneasily to her, then back to Moon. The second man said, “The stolen Arbora can stay, but you need to leave.” 

Moon let out an annoyed breath. A man walked through the door then, and it was Fern’s turn to sigh in annoyance. She hated when their first entrance into a new settlement started with a fight. _ This keeps up and maybe I don’t want us to fit in here _ , she thought sourly. 

The new man was lean and wiry, with fluffy brown hair and a belligerent jaw. She thought he must be Aeriat. He glared at the two Arbora. “Leave them alone.” 

She blinked. This was unexpected.

“This isn’t any of your concern, Chime,” the first Arbora said. 

Chime didn’t back down. “I think it is. Who told you to do this?” 

The second one shot Chime a glare. “No one told us to do anything.”

“Really?” Chime scoffed. “Because you two have never had a thought that someone else didn’t put there.” Fern swallowed a snort. 

Both men shifted, not quite in tandem. Fern was pleased to see her guess was right and they were Arbora. One had copper scales, the other green. Their spines and frills didn’t extend down their backs nearly as far as hers. She wondered what that meant - perhaps she was older than them? Her spines and frills had grown more numerous as she aged, as had Moon's. Both of the men bared their fangs at Chime and crouched. Chime shifted, and he was a warrior, a deep reflective blue with a gold sheen under his scales and the wings folded at his back. 

Fern stepped in front of Moon and they shifted simultaneously, flaring their spines, frills, and lashing their tails. She knew Moon was also flaring his wings behind her. They’d done this before to intimidate groundlings if they’d been cornered in an interior space. The groundlings usually ran away screaming, but she knew they wouldn’t be so lucky with Raksura used to this kind of posturing. 

The response here was far from what Fern expected. Rather than returning the threat, both Arbora leapt backward, badly startled, and shifted to their softskinned forms. The first one muttered, “Sorry,” and they backed to the closest doorway before slipping away. Moon put one hand on Fern’s shoulder and tapped twice with one claw. She twitched a spine in acknowledgement. 

Chime shifted back to groundling, and he looked as startled as the Arbora had. “Oh, I didn’t--”

“You handled that well,” a woman said, sounding amused. Fern's head snapped around toward the voice. She hadn’t noticed the woman approach. The newcomer was small, nearly as small as Fern, her frame more frail than stocky, but she didn't have the lithe quality the Aeriat had. Her messy white hair practically floated around her head and she wore a red dress with a torn hem. Her face was lined with wrinkles. “Shell and Grain have been effectively embarrassed, but they know it’s their fault.” Fern looked up and met Moon’s eyes. He flicked a spine in confusion. Fern looked at the woman, waiting. 

“Can you talk?” Chime asked, looking at Moon. 

The woman lifted her eyebrows in reproof. “Chime,” she chided. 

Fern realized she and Moon were the only ones in the room not in their softskinned forms, and shifted. Moon shifted simultaneously with her, and kept his hand on her shoulder. 

Chime waved a hand, “I saw her talking but didn’t hear it, and he hasn’t said anything.” 

Fern folded her arms over her chest. “We can talk,” she said. 

“Ah,” the woman said cheerfully. “I’m Flower, and this is Chime.” She waited expectantly. 

“I’m Fern. He's Moon,” Fern admitted warily. 

“Will you come with us?” Flower asked. Fern felt Moon twitch. 

“Where?” he asked. 

“Just down to the bowers,” Fern said. After a moment she added, “The living quarters.” 

“Do you have food?” Moon asked. 

“Why wouldn’t we have food?” Chime looked confused and a little suspicious. 

Flower nodded seriously. “Yes, it’s nearly time for the second day-meal, and we have plenty to share.” 

Moon’s fingertip tapped on Fern’s shoulder twice. 

“Then we’ll go with you,” Fern said. 


	2. The Meal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been struggling a bit lately with energy level, maintaining a human sleep schedule (maybe I'm really just a Raksuran warrior), work/life balance, and motivation. Since I have a busy day tomorrow, I'm going to post this chapter early. Enjoy!

Flower led them through the pyramid, and Moon put Fern between him and the other two Raksura, continuously looking behind them as they moved through the complex. Fern was used to this - he would watch behind them and ensure they had an escape route away. Fern wanted to ask questions, but she didn’t know where to start. She hadn't realized until now what a steadying force Stone was, after all their days of travel together. The corridors and rooms were lit by sconces filled with a glowing moss. She wondered if it was a kind of organism that glowed when fed particular nutrients, like flickerbugs. 

At one point Flower explained they were walking down a set of awkwardly large stone steps rather than flying to the lower levels because it was easier for her as an Arbora. 

Chime firmly said, “We’re both mentors.” 

Moon said, a little suspiciously. “You’ve got wings.” 

“I know that,” Chime said pointedly. 

Moon sighed irritably.

_ A winged mentor? _ Fern thought in confusion. “Stone thinks I’m a mentor,” she offered. Maybe they could give her information on this training Stone insisted she needed.

Chime and Flower froze, then turned slowly toward them. Their faces were a mix of confusion, horror, and disbelief. It would have been amusing if it wasn’t so strange. Moon stepped close behind Fern, ready to grab her and pull her away if their reaction turned violent. 

“Stone thinks--” Flower started, then paused. “You don’t know?” 

Fern shrugged. “How would we know?” 

Chime’s jaw dropped open even further in shock. 

Their staring eyes were so disquieting she almost signalled Moon to grab her and fly them away. Maybe she didn't want to learn about mentor training after all. 

“So,” Moon said, “The second day-meal?” 

Chime and Flower twitched, then spun and continued walking down the huge blocks. “These stairs were definitely not made by Raksura or for Raksura,” Fern muttered as she hopped down yet another absurdly tall step.

“Shh, they’re whispering to each other,” Moon hissed. 

She didn’t want to listen to what the one winged mentor and one wingless mentor were saying about her, and focused her attention on her surroundings. She could practically feel Moon straining to hear their conversation, and knew that if he heard anything threatening he’d react immediately. 

Several levels down, they stepped into a room with a low ceiling. “This is the teachers’ court,” Flower explained. “The mentors use it too, but there aren’t many of us.” Moon and Chime had to duck under the lintel, but they both were able to stand up in the room itself. Fern expected the space to feel cramped, but the other end led to an open-air atrium lined with vine-laden pillars. Three low doorways led to other areas, and mats and cushions were scattered across the floor. Fern took a deep breath and smelled bread.  _ Bread!  _ Moon reached and placed a hand on her shoulder, as if to stop her from sprinting to the ovens and grabbing a hot loaf directly from the heat. She shot him a glare. 

A young man came through another doorway, startled to see them. He had dark hair, bronze skin, and a sturdy build. Flower told him, “Bell, this is Fern and Moon. They’ve been traveling with Stone for days, and they’re starving.” Bell brightened up and went back through the door. Fern hoped he was going to come back with bread.

Flower offered them seats on thick, straw mats. Fern and Moon sat near the open wall into the atrium. A series of helpers brought in big wooden plates with cuts of raw red meat, pieces of fruits, crispy bread -  _ bread! _ \- and root vegetables baked in a sweet, scipey sauce. Moon was more mentally present than Fern, responding when Flower introduced them to the people filtering in and out and asking how they’d found the pyramid seven generations ago. 

It was a relief that, aside from keeping the meat raw, they cooked like most softskinned peoples Fern and Moon had lived with. She wasn’t sure how much longer she would have been able to go without bread and other cooked foods. By the time Fern made it through her first helping of everything, and had finished her third helping of bread, there were about twenty people in the room. She thought Chime and Moon were the only Aeriat. Flower poured tea and another Arbora - Petal - brought out a bowl of sweet and crunchy roasted nuts. 

Flower turned to Fern and Moon, her face serious. “Were you with Stone when he was at Sky Copper?”

Everyone went quiet, waiting for the answer. “Yes,” Moon said.

“Is it true?” Petal asked. “The Fell killed them?”

“Yes,” Moon said.

“They took some royal fledglings alive,” Fern said, her food in her belly feeling leaden. “Frost, Thorn, and Bitter.”

“How do you know that?” Chime asked, a little suspiciously. 

Moon interjected, “Some dakti and kethel were there. If Stone had known he needed to prove it, he could have brought their heads back. One of the rulers spoke through the mouth of one of the dying dakti.” 

Fern whipped her head to look at Moon. He shrugged apologetically at her. “There wasn’t time to tell you,” he murmured. 

“And how do you know about the royal fledglings?” Chime pressed again. 

“I’ve had visions before - auguries, I suppose - of the past,” Fern said, wishing she hadn’t said anything. "I don’t have any control over it. I see through another person’s eyes, what happened to them. I saw through Bitter’s eyes during the attack, when he was… taken. It was hard to tell, but I think, I  _ feel _ , the other two turned back for him."

Bell settled on a mat next to Flower and started to say, “How come--” Flower flicked a hand out to interrupt him. He stopped. Fern wondered what he wanted to say.

Chime looked at Flower, “Pearl can’t ignore this. She’ll have to admit the Fell are too dangerous to ally with.” 

“She doesn’t have to admit anything. That’s the problem,” Flower said with irony. She smiled in apology at Moon and Fern’s expressions. “Pearl is our reigning queen. She allowed the Fell to enter the colony to ‘negotiate.’”

“How many Fell?” Moon asked cautiously. 

Bell said said ruefully, “It was only a ruler and two minor dakti.” 

Fern knew if she had her spines they would be sticking out all directions. 

Moon reached out and dipped a piece of bread in the syrupy root sauce. “It always starts with one.” 

Chime, who was picking apart the peel from piece of fruit, looked up. “What do you mean?”

Moon popped the bread into his mouth. Fern could tell he was trying to be casual, but she felt the muscles in his leg tremble where their thighs were touching. “When they take groundling cities,” he said.

“Pearl has to know that,” Chime said, leaning earnestly toward Flower.

“She does,” Flower said, her mouth in a thin line while she sliced a delicate yellow fruit. “Our histories have chronicled the Fell’s advances in the larger groundling cities around the Crescent Sea. Some of the mentors of the last generation made a study of it. Stone's still talking with her now."

Bell asked, “You lived with groundlings? Both of you?” Fern couldn’t tell if the question was curious or suspicious. Moon responded with a combination of nod and shrug. 

“What court are you from?” Flower asked, passing the plate of fruit over to a group of newcomers on the other side of the room. "I know you were living alone, but where were you born?"

“We don’t know,” Moon said. 

Flower’s eyebrows lowered. Chime said, “Were you living near the Star Aster Court?”

“I don’t think so,” Moon said. “We aren’t sure where it is." He paused, and slowly added, "We haven’t seen any other Raksura in a long time.” 

Petal frowned doubtfully. “How long?” 

Fern eyed the basket of bread and wondered if they would let her take some with her at the end of the meal. “About thirty five turns,” she said.

Chime opened his mouth to respond, then closed it, his teeth clicking. 

Petal shook her head, “But Moon must have been a fledgling then, and you--” she looked at Fern, “you weren’t even clutched yet...?"

Fern bristled. “My brother and I are the same age.” 

Petal blinked in surprise, and Moon clasped Fern’s wrist gently. “We had a... hard few turns, after--after we were alone. Fern got sick. She had a fever for weeks and a cough for even longer. She didn’t grow much after that.”

"But why?" Chime asked, gesturing to the room, indicating the food and the people avidly listening with the wave of one hand. "Why avoid other Raksura?"

Moon stiffened and said sharply, "We weren't avoiding anybody. We didn't know where we came from, what we were. Our--the others died when we were children."

“We didn’t even know we were called Raksura until we met Stone,” Fern grumbled. 

“Who were--?” Chime started.

Flower held up a hand to silence him. “I have a terrible feeling,” she said. “Did Stone tell you why he wanted you to come here, to the Indigo Cloud Court?” 

“He said he needed warriors to defend the colony,” Moon said, then traded a look with Fern. She could tell he didn’t know how much was safe to say. She didn’t know either. Would these people welcome a consort other than Stone, a consort to be a potential match for a queen here? 

“That’s partly true,” Chime said slowly, and he traded his own look with Flower. 

“Stone went to look for a consort,” Flower said deliberately, waiting for their reaction. "He didn't say he'd succeeded." She directed her gaze at Moon. "Shell and Grain obviously didn't realize what you are. You aren't wearing the token Jade sent with Stone, and it's not easy to tell a young consort from a warrior in groundling form."

Everyone was looking at them expectantly. "The bracelet?" Moon asked. "That's the token?'

Flower nodded solemnly.

“Well he didn't offer it, so that's why Moon isn't wearing it," Fern sniffed, folding her arms over her chest. "We know Stone wants to move the colony to the west. I guess he doesn't think giving my brother-the-consort a token from your queen will change the situation, and I'm apt to agree. The Fell are here. You obviously need to pack your things and leave, consort or no consort."

Moon squeezed Fern’s wrist, and she snapped her mouth shut. Chime, Flower, and the rest of the Arbora looked at her in wide-eyed shock. Heat pooled in her cheeks. Moon squeezed the bridge of his nose with his free hand. 

Chime stuttered, “Well, uh, that's…” then trailed off. 

Moon released Fern’s wrist and rested his elbows on his folded knees. "Yes, we are aware I’m a consort, and that Stone went to Star Aster to ask for warriors or consort or both. We didn’t have a lot of time to talk after Sky Copper. ” Moon paused, and looked around the room deliberately. “We’ve also seen what the Fell can do, not just to Sky Copper but to groundling settlements and cities in the east.” 

Something Shell and Grain had said, the two Arbora men who had confronted them so soon after they had arrived, came to the front of Fern’s mind. “What’s a feral solitary? And why would people here think Moon stole me?"

Flower bit her lip and said, “Yes, well, I can answer the first question. The rest is more complicated." Hesitating, as though she was choosing her words carefully, she said “We aren’t meant to live alone. It’s generally thought that Raksura living outside of a court were forced out for fighting, violence, or fled after stealing an Arbora baby or fledgling. I've never seen a solitary Arbora in the histories, ever, and only a consort once."

Fern felt her lip curl. "So you all look at Moon and think he's a solitary driven from his court, which looks especially bad because he's a consort. And because I'm so small you think I'm a child he stole for the fun of it." Of all the questions she'd asked Stone, she hadn't thought to ask about Raksuran prejudices or taboos, and he had known exactly what not to tell them to make them come with him. "Doesn't seem all that complicated."

Flower leaned forward. "Not every--" 

Fern grabbed Moon's wrist and stood, startling him."Fern," he protested.

Fern switched to Hassi. She couldn't think straight, couldn't express all her anger with her inadequate Raksuran vocabulary, and Hassi had every idiom she needed. "I need to breathe some fresh air and get away from these close-minded gravity-ignorers who couldn't tell a ripe sulfruit from a rotten puiteer."

"And you need me for this?" Moon asked, also in Hassi.

Fern growled and released his wrist, then walked out to the atrium and looked up. She could see a spot where the atrium connected a broad ledge on the next level, sunlight shining through where it connected to the outside. There were plenty of chinks in bricks she could use to climb up and out.

"No," she called back, still in Hassi. "I can climb. Tell these indecisive branch-snappers who wouldn't share a gardening awl unless you smack them on the head with it to leave me alone."

"Stay within whistle distance," he said.

She shifted to her Arbora form, jumped, grabbed a crack in one of the pillars, and started to climb. "You didn't stay in whistle distance when you went into Sky Copper to kill Fell with Stone," she muttered. 

Vaguely, she heard Moon saying in Raksuran, "She'll be back when she smells you baking more bread."

She managed to hold in an offended snarl, but only because Moon was probably right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fern is suspicious by nature, which is why she so often hears suspicion in other peoples' tone of voice. Getting her to open up to me in character mapping has been a challenge. She keeps wanting to know why I'm asking questions and then she says, "Nevermind, you stay here, I'm going to go look for Moon." >.<
> 
> Next week: Fern meets a special someone!


	3. The Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we begin to diverge from the plot of The Cloud Roads (at least a little bit).

It was easy to find cracks in the old stone to climb, and it wasn't very far to the wide ledge on the next level. Fern wished she had further to climb. She wasn't even out of breath.

She thought of the years just after Sorrow, Leaf, Light, and Bliss had died. Learning Altanic by hiding in softskinned settlements, playing with children when parents weren't looking and trying so so hard not to accidentally shift. The children would tell their parents about their new friends, who were more often than not written off as imaginary.

She and Moon became brave - or, rather, foolhardy - enough to reveal themselves to a settlement. A family took them in, gave them shelter and food. Then, one of the adults startled Moon badly enough with an unexpected hand on his shoulder that he shifted in front of them. 

Fern had screamed and begged to be allowed to stay with him, but they'd locked her in a windowless room 'for her own protection.' She'd shifted and pried enough loose boards on an exterior wall to make a hole to crawl out. Moon was waiting outside in a tree, clinging to a branch in the middle of a thunderstorm, shaking and sobbing that he didn't know how to get to her or if he'd see her again. 

It had been too much like the night the Tath killed everyone. 

They were much more careful after that, approaching larger settlements with more varied peoples. They'd land far away and spend several days walking in so they'd look like normal groundling travelers. Whatever it took to fit in.

They worked hard to never ask too many questions. Asking questions meant others would ask them questions. It was safer to listen and glean information from overheard conversations. They learned to eat and drink when others did, even if they'd caught a big meal earlier and weren't hungry. They learned to avoid any domesticated animals that reacted badly to them. 

They learned customs could vary from place to place. They figured out they could use sex to make people be nice to them, at least for awhile. They worked and fought for every small advantage. Occasionally, they made friends.

Occasionally, they were lucky enough to move on before their friends caught them and turned on them.

Fern buried her face in her hands. Every few turns or so, she and Moon would vow to live away from anyone else and survive off the land. They'd lose their resolve in a few weeks and seek out a settlement for some company - any company. They weren't meant to be alone, but they had been. For turns and turns.  _ It's too late for us, _ she thought. Maybe if they were younger, and didn't have so many scars, they'd have a better chance.

Even if Moon could be a prospective consort for this court, a number of them would never accept him. She thought about Stone's questions, and Flower's, about their birthcourt. Knowing your ancestral line was clearly important, and they had no way of knowing theirs. It was possible that Moon had no future in this court. Fern had been in enough settlements to know that not having a role to fit in would end with them being shouted out with, "don't you dare come back!"

Fern dropped her hands from her face and followed the wide ledge around to where it hung over the river. A woman sat there, glumly surveying the water and the hilly gardens below. Her scales were a soft, but vivid, blue, less metallic than Chime's. They were overlaid with a web-like color pattern of silver-gray. An elaborate mane of spines and frills extended down her back and between her furled wings. She sat up, her spines flaring as she started from Fern's entrance.

"Oh, sorry," Fern said, and went to back away.

"No, please," the woman said, her husky voice soft. "Sit with me. You're… Fern?" 

"News travels fast around here," Fern observed. There was something about the woman that set her apart from the other Raksura she'd seen. The pattern of her scales, the profusion of spines. She paused, then said, "And you're Jade?"

"I am," the woman - the queen - said. 

Fern checked behind her. The way back to the ledge was clear. "It's nice to meet you."

Jade tilted a few spines. "I appreciate the diplomacy," she said. The angle of her spines suggested amusement, but Fern wasn't entirely sure. Fern felt her spines flatten against her head self-consciously. 

Jade twitched. "I'm sorry, let me try again. Welcome to Indigo Cloud."

Fern snorted, then tried to bury the sound in a polite "Hmm," noise.

Jade continued, the tip of her tail twitching, "I really shouldn't be here, but Stone's in a mood and doing his 'You should do what I say because I'm really old' lecture, and I pretty much know it by heart."

Fern chuckled, despite herself. "I, too, am in a mood."

"Ah," Jade said, the outside edges of her eyes crinkling. Her voice turned conspiratorial, "As am I."

Fern gingerly sat down beside Jade, just out of arms reach, and curled her tail around her feet. If Jade was going to stay in her winged firm, Fern thought it only appropriate to stay in her shifted form. She didn't feel any indication Jade was using a queen's power to make her shift to her softskinned form. They sat in silence for awhile, watching the sun sink lower over the jungle. The silence was oddly soothing and calm, rather than tense or oppressive. For someone in a 'mood,' Jade seemed more contemplative than explosive.

"I would like to ask you something," Jade ventured after a time.

"I will answer it if I can," Fern allowed. 

"The consort, Moon, what is he like?"

Fern looked at Jade, who met her gaze a little uncertainly. “He's always, always, been there for me,” she finally said. "He's ferocious. I think having to raise me when he was just a child himself made him to worry less about self-preservation and more protecting those who need help. But it also made him sensitive, thoughtful, and gentle."

Jade shifted, curling her tail more comfortably around her feet. Fern could tell she was settling in to talk for as long as this conversation was going to take.

"You were upset, when you first came up here," Jade observed. It was a statement, not a question, giving Fern space to choose not to answer.

"I… don't think it's a good idea for me to tell you why."

Jade flicked a spine. Fern realized in that moment that the way she and Moon communicated with their spines was different than the Raksura here. What else made them different?

Jade said, "I would be concerned if you weren't upset. Very little is as it should be. You and I meeting like this is certainly abnormal. We have customs that tell us how to act when we meet with other courts, when we negotiate with a trading party or meet a foreign queen. None of the usual forms truly apply here. It's disorienting."

How interesting it would have been to know and be trained in customs rather than bumbling through figuring them out each time you enter a new settlement, Fern thought.

“When the usual protocols aren’t available, I say we make our own," Jade continued.

Fern leveled a considering look at Jade. Her brown-amber eyes were less tentative, more direct. They simmered with authority and with an unspoken invitation to speak her mind. Fern subtly dug her claws into the brickwork on either side of her in case she offended Jade enough for the queen to attempt to toss her off the side of the pyramid. "Stone had a token - from you? - to offer the consort he hoped to bring back here. He didn't offer the token to my brother. I only know about its meaning because Flower mentioned it."

Jade's eyes briefly lifted to the sky, then back down. "Stone very likely wants me to give it to him myself," she said. Fern thought she didn't sound certain.

Fern tried to keep her voice calm as she asked, "Will you?"

Jade's posture shifted, shoulders lifting up from her more casual slouch into something more confident and authoritative. "He sounds like someone I'd be honored to offer it to."

_ It's not like you have a lot of choices at the moment, _ Fern thought, trying to keep the doubt from her face. "I don’t understand how my brother being a consort will magically make you all realize you need to move the court. The Fell destroyed Sky Copper. The Fell are here already."

Jade’s spines twitched in a complicated pattern. “My mother, Pearl, hasn’t been quite right since my sire, Rain, died. Stone was gone for much of my fledglinghood. Everything happened so gradually, across turns and turns. Stillbirths, the sister queen dying, a few winters of lung disease, a bad season for our crops, territorial conflicts. We don't have the warriors we need to safely move the Arbora, and everyone must agree - or at least support - the decision, so we stay united on the long journey. A consort is our best chance for uniting the court. Many of us felt Star Aster was our last best chance." She sighed heavily. 

Fern realized she'd been thinking about moving the colony the same way she thought about flying with Moon. He just picked her up and they flew. There would be many more complications moving a whole colony of people, with supplies and children and elderly. She'd heard the Cordans talk often enough of the losses and trauma of the retreat from their cities in Kiaspur. Why hadn't she realized it would be just as problematic for Raksura?

"My brother isn't interested in jewelry," Fern blurted. "He likes things that are useful." 

Jade blinked, and her lips curled in a small smile. "What is 'brother?'" she asked.

Fern blinked, surprised. "I don't know if there's a word in Raksuran for children raised together who may or may not share parents. I've heard the word 'clutchmate' but that doesn't seem right. 'Brother' and 'sister' are Hassi words we've been using for turns now. If you know Altanic, it’s like the word ‘sibling.’"

They sat in silence for a time. Jade ventured, her voice soft again. "I would like to meet him. Will you tell him that?" 

A sharp whistle echoed up from the atrium. Fern twitched, then whistled two short, low notes back. “Yes, I will tell him,” she said as she stood. She made her way back to the opening above the teacher’s court and looked down into the atrium. She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder back at Jade. 

Moon stood in the atrium, looking up at her. She realized then just how exhausted and gaunt he looked, especially in comparison to the other Raksura she’d seen here. He was far too skinny, all corded muscle with stark cheekbones and lean lines. She took a deep breath and climbed her way down to him.


End file.
